We haven’t had more than a drizzle in days – maybe weeks – and aren’t likely to before this weekend, but yesterday was the perfect day to have a cold, because it was chilly and grey.

Normally, I’d have retired to bed; instead I puttered around the house, doing some tree decoration, making an uber-garlicky chicken soup in the crockpot, baking pumpkin spice cake, and sitting in a wing chair in my living room, my hands wrapped around a mug of coffee and the fireplace snapping and crackling, hissing and popping, beside me.

Our fireplace is more decorative than designed to actually provide heat, but it takes the chill out of the room, and makes everything feel cozier. I couldn’t focus on writing, had no voice – still have no voice – for recording, but I watched Debbie Allen’s Hot Chocolate Nutcracker, and really enjoyed it, and then we watched the penultimate episode of The Newsroom and the first episode of The Librarians, and then I went to bed to curl up with dogs.

Sometimes puttery days are the best kinds of days there are, even when you have a cold.